Excellence without anxiousness

How do you bring your "A" game and not be overly weighed down at the same time i.e. not become anxious over whether you will represent/honor/glorify God well?

By knowing you cannot and will not do things excellently on ¹your own, no matter what you do or how hard you try. Bringing our "A" game starts with and depends on God not us i.e. our humble dependence on God and his infinite love for us; our abiding in his love. Only His love empowers us to excellence. Unless ¹God empowers us by his love we have nothing within us to fully display  our highest capacity and gifts. So in this sense, it's not on us to bring out our best as far as the power or drive needed to enable us. 

It is, however, up to us to trust and depend on God to empower us i.e. fully believing he loves us to the extent he does. Our challenge in honoring God well is greater dependence/humility (trust) not greater execution. Greater execution is the fruit of greater dependence. Honoring God starts with humility leading to excellence in execution. 

Great achievement is the fruit of great execution. Great execution is the fruit of great effort. Great effort is the fruit of great power. Great power is the fruit of dependence on great love and its source i.e. God

Great power is released in and through us by, in and through great humility/dependence on God who is the source of all power/life/love/Spirit.

For more on doing things with excellence click here.

For more on the necessity of great effort click here.

For more on how God's love empowers us click here. 

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¹It is not by sheer will power we live for God but by the power of God's Spirit. The following passage lays this out. 

Ephesians 3:14

"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father... 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit (of infinite love) in your inner being. 17 so that Christ may dwell (be present and abide) in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly - i.e. answer the above prayer - than all that we ask or think (than you may realize, ask for, or even think possible), according to the power (of his infinite love, by his Spirit) at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

This is the essence of how we live our life for God ...according to the riches of his glory..." i.e. the riches of his glory empower us (gives us strength) to live for God. 

The adoration of the immense worth/glory of God is the essence of the life and love of God himself. This life and love starts within God and is grounded in who he is, as the triune God; who constantly gives and receives honor/love among the Father and Son in, by, and through the Spirit. 

This same life and love is now fully ours in Christ. It is accessible and extended to us because of His efforts, not ours. It is by this life (and only this life) we are enabled/empowered to live for God.

...he may grant you to be strengthened with power

...through his Spirit

...in your inner being

What drives and empowers us to live for God comes from within us, by Gods love/Spirit through faith. But not by us i.e. not by our efforts.

"...so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,..."

Christ's love frees and enables us to grasp the full extent of that love so we are full of God (his presence) and power.

"...may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

The strength to grasp the fullness of God's love comes from God. Without it we will not see him as the loving Father he is. 

20  Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

Hypocrites in the church?

A complaint we often hear from those outside the church is why are there so many hypocrites in the church? The answer comes down to intent. 

Since ¹those of us within the church are given a clear standard of conduct we feel compelled to conform our behavior to this standard, if only in appearance because of peer pressure. However, if we are ¹not in Christ and not compelled by his love, this is the wrong reason to conform. We may be kind, thoughtful, and loving on the outside but in truth are "behaving ourselves" not to honor God but simply to fit into the prescribed and ²expected behavior of the church community.

When we do, we bring honor only to ourselves in the eyes of others. As Christ said, we have our reward i.e. the praise of men vs God. God, however, has absolutely nothing to do with this. This becomes apparent when real love requiring sacrifice is called for by someone who claims to be a believer and it's not there. This was the very same issue with the Pharisees. They did things to be seen of men not to honor God.

This is the core reason there are those within the church who are hypocrites. 

It is not necessarily unique to the church, however. All groups, associations, and memberships have hypocrites within their ranks. They are not there for the mission or vision of the organization but for their own purpose to impress others. It may have nothing to do with what an individual church teaches and everything to do with the individuals within the church. It actually may indicate that many churchgoers are not true believers at all or at least not looking to Christ as their primary source of love, identity, meaning, and purpose. 

For a discussion on "cultural Christians" vs true believers click here. 
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¹I distinguish between churchgoers and true followers of Christ not only because we can observe the difference in the values, attitudes, and actions, but also because Christ makes this distinction with the following three teachings.

...by their fruits -- the kind of fruit -- you will know them.

The parable of the wheat and weeds (tares)

Christ declaring he never knew some who had done many works "in his name."

²And when we do conform externally, we become proud and self-righteous, demanding others also conform while "looking down on them" when they don't. When in fact our conformity isn't true obedience from the heart but for show. Self-righteous folks, like anyone else, are still a mess on the inside, self-righteousness itself is an indication. 

Addressing fear II

Taking risks:

To address fear, you have to shift your identity -- who you are; your significance, importance, value -- and base it on God's glory -- our recognizing and displaying His infinite worth -- and His assessment - i.e. your true identity is based first on who God is and then on His assessment of you, not on the assessment of others or even, and sometimes especially, your own self-assessment. 

Who's assessment carries more weight, God or others -- including your own self-assessment? If God is for you, who can be against you?

If your assessment - by the greatest Being in the universe - is such that He made an infinite sacrifice to demonstrate how much He loves (values) you, what does that say of your true worth, vs the opinion of others or even your own? Whose opinion is more accurate and carries greater weight, yours or Gods?

We are designed to live for the honor and glory of God, ¹not to protect ourselves - physically or emotionally, i.e. our purpose is to uphold God's honor, not our own. In so doing, God says he will honor (exalt) us.

"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” - Jesus, Luk 14:11

"Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted..." – Jesus, Mat 23:12  

In truth, God has already honored us by giving us everything needed to restore us fully to Himself i.e. he has given us his eternally loved Son. 

Our value is also further demonstrated in His empowering us to put on display His worth or value to others. The most important thing we can do is bring to others the most important "thing" - i.e. our greatest worth is demonstrated in bringing an awareness of God and His infinite worth to others. Why? Because there is no one or no thing more significant than God. No one else can give us and others what we need most. He is his own source of life, nothing else is. Everything depends on God. He alone is everlasting. He depends on nothing other than Himself. He is the only self-existent being, the "I AM." And he offers to us that very life that makes Him self-sufficient. 

If our conduct says to others God is most important to us, we, by this very conduct, are saying He is most important to them as well. How we live will either show He is or isn't most important and therefore most worthy (or not worthy when we don't display Him) of the trust and commitment of others, not just our own. 

Knowing that God honors and exalts us when we honor him is the ²hope we are called to. When we take hold of this, there is no longer room for fear. The focus is no longer on ourselves but on Him, where it rightly and truly belongs. 

For more on how our glory is in bringing God glory click here. 
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¹I am not saying we don't use common sense and come in out of the rain when it's raining or avoid walking into traffic. I am saying if we are faced with the choice between doing something solely to protect ourselves or to honor God; we are to choose the latter. If we are not acting recklessly, God will protect us. Sometimes He even protects us when we are. 

²Desiring honor is not wrong. From whom do we seek and legitimately, it is our challenge. 

Blessed are the poor in spirit

"Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God."  

Jesus (Matt 5:3)

How many times have we heard that someone "made a decision for Christ" but afterward walked away unchanged?

Are we counting on some apparent decision as the primary reason God should let us into his Kingdom? Or should we look elsewhere? 

Is there a different indicator of true citizenship in the kingdom? 

Should we instead be focused on the disposition that without seeing our desperate need for Christ we have no hope of entrance? 

The former (making a decision) may be something we do in our head but the latter - poor in spirit - is a disposition (attitude) of our heart.

"Poor in spirit" is the first of a list of core teachings of Christ, commonly referred to as "the Beatitudes." 

Some argue the order is important. I agree. Context is always essential and needed for a proper understanding of any passage.

This first beatitude addresses having the kingdom... "theirs ¹is the ²kingdom..." This suggests this first beatitude is not just the starting point but the foundation on which the rest are built. This also indicates nothing else in this list happens unless we possess this foundational disposition first.

What is it to be "poor in spirit"? In a word, humble. It is recognizing all we have to offer God is our need, spiritual poverty, and moral bankruptcy. There is nothing we can do or goodness we can offer that will cause God to receive us into His kingdom. The only thing we can offer God is empty hands in need of Him. 

Recognizing and admitting we have empty hands spiritually and morally is the greatest evidence that we are already participating in the kingdom. But also the most difficult to admit.

If this is the foundation and starting point, we do well to pay closer attention. In fact, we must be careful we have this attitude before we can even consider the rest of Christ's teachings. We must have the kingdom before we can live it out as laid out by the rest of Christ's words.

We also do well to explain the gospel of the kingdom as Christ does, not as the evangelical church often does. What do I mean? Within the church, we usually hear ³faith is the key to entering the kingdom, with no mention of humility. Whereas Christ stresses ³humility but makes no mention of faith - at least not directly as he does humility. A different emphasis, wouldn't you agree? And not an insignificant one.

Though faith and humility are interconnected, we will not turn to Christ in faith without humility first.

According to Christ, without humility, we do not have the kingdom. Possessing the kingdom is the fruit of being poor in spirit. Being poor in spirit is evidence we possess it. The use of "for" indicates a direct connection between humility and possession. This suggests no one will have the kingdom without it. 

Is this only emphasized here? Do we see any indication of this elsewhere? 

In several other places, we are told that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble*.

"But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' " James 4:6 

"...Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' ” 1 Peter 5:5 

These and other verses suggest without humility, there is no grace or salvation. 

So the question isn't whether we believe certain facts about God or not. James tells us that devils believe and tremble (Jas 2:19), yet they are still rebels against God. There is a kind of belief that does not include humility.

Do you recognize your desperate condition before God and the only chance of his acceptance is if He provides the solution -- that you are spiritually bankrupt and can only come to God with empty hands morally? Without this recognition, there is no chance of entrance. 

If you do recognize this, Christ says you are blessed and a child of the kingdom. If you do not, you do well to search your heart.

Does humility save us? No, only Christ can. But humility is the greatest indicator of true saving faith. Without it, there is no salvation. 

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¹The only other beatitude that mentions possessing the kingdom is of those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake. Interestingly, a willingness to be persecuted for doing the right thing also requires humility.

Another verse outside this sermon mentioning possessing the kingdom is...

Matthew 19:14
But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

This verse tells us the kingdom of God also belongs to "such as these" i.e. those who are like little children. What is a quality children possess that adults often do not? Humility. Why? Because children naturally recognize their dependence on those who are more capable than them.

See also, Job 22:29, Isaiah 2:11-12, Isaiah 2:17, Matthew 23:12, Luke 1:52, Luke 14:11, Luke 18:14.

²What is the significance of the kingdom of God? It was Christ's central message and the very 1st thing He mentioned after his test in the wilderness which He also called us to at the outset of his ministry.

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:17 ESV

³I'm not saying that faith and humility are mutually exclusive of each other. I'm saying there is no true faith without humility i.e. humility is the greatest evidence of genuine faith. Whereas you can acknowledge and agree with certain things being true but never actually benefit personally from those truths.

We can agree to certain things/truths in our heads but they will never take hold of our hearts without humility.

This was true of me for years and I think it is true of many within the church today.

For a discussion on the difference between grace-driven believers in Christ and cultural Christians click here.